If you pick the right domain names and win the auction for the right amount, there is still plenty of money to be made from expired/deleted domain names. Adam Maysonet illustrated this by sharing the results of a recent sale he made on Afternic:
And the first on-hold on @afternic just went through.
Hold time was 4.5 months. Bought it for just under $1k. pic.twitter.com/9Ku3keUQxL
— Adam Maysonet (@synozeer) February 25, 2025
Adam bought Spend.CO for just shy of $1,000. Using the Whois History tool at DomainTools, it would appear that Adam won the domain name in a Sav.com drop catch auction. He then listed the domain name for sale for $12,995 on Afternic, and someone bought it.